You wrote: “would it be appropriate to use this metaphor after the husband says something like ‘my wife overreacts all of the time’ when she tries to explain that his behaviors makes her feel uncomfortable?”

It could be that you have a couple of great skills, one for theorizing as you go and one for noticing small details that may be important for choice in therapy. These are terrific skills. If you have them - keep 'em.

This forum does not involve revealing sufficient client information for supervision of therapy. There are a lot issues to consider to really advise you correctly, and you just can't clarify all of the context of this public forum and this non-real-time interface. Basically, you are seeking training or supervision (whether you realize it or not). It seems that you need to get more training or some supervision to clarify the sorts of things you are trying to learn. So, I would like to not go further in this issue with this set of clients. Make sure that those who train or supervise are qualified and licensed mental health professionals with the proper training in their resumes.


I do not want to discourage you from participating on this forum, however. Please feel free to keep participating. Also, others may wish to address this question, of course.